


i saw an angel

by 116hrj



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Basketball, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 08:55:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17403893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/116hrj/pseuds/116hrj
Summary: Jeno couldn't help but make horrible passes and sloppy dribbles — all to see that angelic smile Chenle makes when he steals the ball and shoots. Perhaps that alone is worth throwing off the whole game for.





	i saw an angel

**Author's Note:**

> anyways, enjoy this jenle mini fic, made for the lovely clo 💞. follow me on twitter @116hrj

“Boys! Pack up the balls, I need to wrap up practice,” Coach Seo roared, bringing the team’s attention towards the man on the bench. While the rest of the team scrambled around the gymnasium to collect the stray basketballs, Jeno made his way towards the three-point line and held onto his ball tightly to take his last shot for the day.

The basketball bounces abruptly onto the floor before he places his firm grip on it once more. With his usual clean arch, he releases the ball in the air and allows it to make a gentle swish inside the hoop. A prideful grin stretched along his face, however, his glory was cut short when one of his teammates smacked his shoulders harshly.

“Put it away, Jen. We already finished cleaning up,” Donghyuck snarled at him, “without you, I may add. For the thousandth time, help out!”

Jeno merely gave him a chuckle in response as they both headed towards the coach. Once the whole team were gathered near the gym door, they were met with his usual motivational speech, along with some tips & advice for their gameplay techniques.

“I’m not going to be there for your game tomorrow against SM High, but the P.E. teacher Mr. Moon has agreed to fill in for me,” Coach Seo mentioned, earning a chorus of groans from the boys. Mr. Moon was known for his outstanding stamina and running skills — but only that. He is barley skilled enough to make a single shot, let alone provide helpful insight during the game. Despite being fully aware of that, Coach Seo looked displeased with the reactions from the team.

“Hey, hey, don’t be like that. He is generously taking time out of his day to help coach you guys, so I better not hear about you ungrateful brats being disrespectful to him. But Jeno, assist him if he needs help, okay? You’re the team captain.”

Jeno nodded at him and flashed a reassuring grin. And with that, Coach Seo grabbed his keys and turned to face the door. Before exiting, he slipped in one last comment for the group of boys. “I have faith that you guys will win. Make me proud, okay?”

The whole team shouted a cluster of okay’s back at him and grabbed their bag to head out as well. Jeno stood by the door and waited for the gym to clear out before closing the lights and locking the door — one of his many responsibilities as the team captain. Right as the last few of his teammates were leaving, Donghyuck patted his shoulder and smiled warmly at him before following after them. Shortly afterwards, Jeno was trailing behind them as well.

Not too long after reaching his home, Jeno headed for his bed, his head filled with possible outcomes of tomorrow’s game. What he wasn’t expecting, however, was meeting what he deems possibly the cutest guy in existence there

 

The boys were warming up on one half of the court, practicing all sorts of shots while waiting for the other team to arrive. Everyone were heavily anticipating their arrival, as seeing them warm up gives them an early opportunity to see their skills. The guys wanted to know how hard they’d have to play to win, and the majority were desperately hoping it wouldn’t be too difficult.

Eventually, the notorious team has shown up, all dressed in their blue and white uniforms (which contrasted deeply with their red and black ones). They didn’t even require any stretching before they hurriedly grabbed their basketballs and began doing a very well-constructed drill. NCT High felt very threatened by that. While they just shot from whatever angle they felt was necessary, the other team had an organized drill which helps them practice every aspect — even their defense. And their skills were clearly just as favourable as the warm up they presented.

Watching them only raised the anxiety of those on and off the bleachers. Half of the team wanted nothing more than to fake an ankle injury, while the other half had already accepted their loss. However, Jeno had high hopes for this match, and as their team captain, he felt responsible for spreading that energy onto the others as well. With one minute left for practice, he quickly gathered them into a circle to deliver a mini speech.

“Okay, I’m aware they look incredibly good right now, and we are probably going to lose. But is that an excuse for slacking during the game? No!” Jeno lectured as the boys stared at him with an empty look. His words clearly aren’t changing their mindset, so with a small sigh, he restarted.

“Listen, we can be just as good as they are; if not, better! Who cares if they had an organized warm up? We can shoot hella good! And block too. So apply those skills to the game or else you guys are running lines next practice, got that?”

With a fearful expression, they all rapidly nodded, and proceeded with their usual cheer before heading over to the temporary coach. Mr. Moon merely read some names off of the paper provided by Coach Seo, and those five players headed to the court. Donghyuck, Mark, Felix, and Hyunjin spread out around the circle in the center of the gym, while Jeno made his way to the center of it. There, a player from the opposite team approached him and spared only a glance towards his way before crouching down for the tip-off. Jeno mimicked his actions, but suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The guy checking Donghyuck was absolutely ethereal. His bright green hair had immediately caught his attention, while the rest of his features kept it. Needless to say, Jeno was stunned by his beauty, but his daze had abruptly ended when he realized his check was nearly by the hoop, in an almost completely open position to shoot. Thankfully, Donghyuck had came on time to guard the open man, but that left the green-haired cutie free. Before Jeno could rush over there to cover him, the ball was already in his hand, and shortly afterwards, released and inside the hoop.

Despite feeling disappointed due to not fulfilling his role, Jeno felt like it was entirely worth it after seeing the blinding smile on his face after it got in. 

And perhaps he found it also worth letting him steal the ball from him throughout the whole quarter, all to see that angelic expression again and again.

It was all too easy for SM High to lead the game from there, as Jeno was clearly putting them in advantage. Despite how hard his teammates tried to reach for his garbage passes, they always managed to land directly into the petite boy’s hands. It was almost as if Jeno was playing for the other team, at this point.

“What the fuck, Jen?” Donghyuck yelled, unable to capture the whipped boy’s attention. Jeno was too busy gazing at the lime-haired angel cheering with his team, and his friend was losing his patience with each passing second. “You completely messed us up!”

With a harsh smack on the back of his head, Jeno finally snapped out of his daze and faced the rest of the team with a sheepish grin. He had no way to justify his horrible skills on the floor, and saying it’s merely because of a boy would only result into getting benched and endless teasing. So, he stayed silent and looked down to his sneakers.

“Donghyuck’s right — I mean, he could’ve been nicer, but he has a point. It looked like you were doing that on purpose, though. Why?” Mr. Moon gently spoke, placing a comforting hand on Jeno’s shoulder. The teen kept his head down and didn’t reply, too embarrassed to say anything. He really had no excuse for his actions. He just wanted to see an angel smile, but they wouldn’t have understood.

“Yeah Jeno, why? We could’ve been winning by now! What happened to ‘apply those skills to the game or else you guys are running lines next practice’? Huh?”

Thankfully, Mark stepped in to advocate for the slightly younger boy. “Leave him alone. He’ll do better in the next quarter,” Mark turned to Jeno and smiled reassuringly, “just trust him.”

Mr. Moon let out a sigh and nodded in agreement before sitting back down on the bench. He picked up his piece of paper and told them the new lineup — which somehow included Jeno. The P.E. teacher glanced at his curious expression and gave him small smile. “This is your chance to redeem yourself. Show that you can do better, okay?”

With some newfound motivation, Jeno nodded and jogged to the court to finish off the second quarter of the game. And this time — he vowed to not get distracted by any boys, even if they looked like the reincarnation of an angel.

However, Jeno found that mentality crumbling beneath him when the green-haired boy approached him to be his check for the second half.

 

'Remember Chenle, make him flustered! Bring home this win!' Chenle thought to himself as he stood up from his spot on the bench. After the rest of the team hyped him up for being the cause of over half of their points, it didn’t take them long to figure out why. Clearly, one of them had a crush on him, and it was not subtle whatsoever.

They have heard several rumors about how this team was a powerhouse — which is why they brought out their fancy warm up and tried a little too hard to show off their just above average skills. However, when the notorious Lee Jeno, supposedly the best player on the team, happened to stare at Chenle for seconds too long and “accidentally” pass the ball directly to his chest, it wasn’t hard to draw a conclusion from there.

Since their realization, and after minutes of teasing, Jaemin convinced him to purposely try to get him more distracted in order to bring back a win. It was surely a devious plan, but it was almost guaranteed to work. So, with an abundance of peer pressure from his teammates, Chenle hesitantly agreed to subtly “flirt” on the court.

While the referee handed the ball over to Jaemin, Jeno was quick to put his foot over Chenle and cover him with his arm. Since the black-haired boy had his attention of the ball, the younger was unable to pull any tricks on him. So instead, Jaemin passed it to another teammate, but the ball was quick to get stolen. A line of disappointed glares were shown for the bench, and Chenle couldn't help but feel guilty.

After the ball went into Jeno’s possession, Chenle rushed in front of his and raised his arms to guard. The taller boy seemed to suddenly fall in a daze, as he began to dribble for an unusually long time while staring directly into his eyes. It was an incredibly easy opportunity to steal the ball, so, Chenle utilized this chance. He stared back into his eyes, shot a quick wink for extra measure, then grabbed the ball from his hands in a swift motion. While Chenle already had his arms in the air on the other side of the court, taking a quick layup, Jeno was still frozen in his previous position.

Mr. Moon took a deep sigh before forming a T sign with his hand. Once the timeout was given and the remaining players gathered in front of him, he looked at Jeno with a disappointed expression. “What happened there? You completely froze.”

Rather than giving a response, he merely took a seat on the bench in silence. Mr. Moon gave up on the interrogation and told another player to go up instead for the remaining portion of the game. Instead of getting upset over his replacement, this made Jeno relieved, as this new angle allows for more admiring to be done.

Which was exactly what he did for a portion of the game, up until SM High’s final shot before halftime.

In Jeno’s absence, they were able to make up for the majority of the points lost. However, the gap was too big to recover from, so the opposing team ended up being ahead by 6 points. It wasn’t that significant compared to the impressive scores achieved by both teams, but regardless, NCT High could have easily been winning if it wasn’t for a certain black haired boy.

While the team huddled into a circle surrounding Mr. Moon, Jeno grabbed his water bottle and slipped out of the gym quickly, claiming he needs to refill it. That wasn’t the case, however. He merely wasn’t prepared to face the backlash from his teammates just yet. So, the nearly broken water fountain in front of the P.E. office was going to be his temporary oasis for the next few minutes.

His peace was cut short when the notorious green-haired angel appeared in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest and pouty lips that Jeno cannot divert his gaze from. It was all a beautiful sight, and he couldn’t help but feel grateful for being able to witness it.

“I know you let me take the ball all those times,” the younger boy spoke, looking almost upset at his actions. A wave of regret washed over Jeno, and guiltiness consumed him.

“N-no way! You’re just a really good player, and I can’t pass for shit.” Jeno nervously lied, afraid of hurting the cute boy’s feelings. He didn’t realize practically handing the ball over to him many times would make him feel bad, and Jeno would never dream of making anyone feel even mildly upset.

“Really? I heard lots of good things about you. I doubt you would genuinely be that bad,” Chenle trailed off, closing up the large gap between them a bit, “and plus, it really did seem like you were making it easy for me. I don't want that. Being a junior in the senior basketball team makes me face enough mocking as it is, and this doesn't help. I don’t want to get an easy win! Challenge me, please!”

As Chenle ranted with an annoyed tone and expression, Jeno zoned out staring as his gorgeous face. He couldn’t help but notice the beautiful crinkle in his eyes, the way his lips move when he speaks, and how angelic his voice sounds. There was not a single flaw in sight, and the taller boy was completely awestruck by it.

“Hello? Are you even listening to me?” Chenle muttered disappointedly while snapping his fingers in front of his face. With that swift motion, Jeno averted his gaze back to his eyes and nodded rapidly, earning an annoyed groan from the younger.

“Listen, if you actually try and your team happens to win the game, mayhaps I’ll go on a date with you,” Chenle persuaded, craving some challenge. ‘Date’ was the only word Jeno needed to hear before gaining nearly three times the amount of motivation he had in the beginning, and with a quick nod, he ran back to his team to construct a winning game plan.

Once arrived, Donghyuck rolled his eyes at him and scoffed. “What took you so long? We were waiting.”

“I was refilling my water bottle,” Jeno explains before joining the circle and continuing.

“And also, sorry I was slacking throughout the game. I was just really out of it for a while,” He lied, “but I promise I’ll work hard from this point onwards. We will win this game, okay?”

The teammates grinned widely at him, happy to have their normal captain back. Even Mr. Moon smiled fondly at him. After exchanging a couple of warm-hearted expressions, Jeno presented his plan and set up the plays. He even picked out the people going up, despite how he’s not allowed to. But Mr. Moon was too proud (and severely uneducated on this sport) to comment on that, so he let it pass and went with his decisions.

After doing their signature cheer, the five players, including Jeno, spread out across the opposite court and gave each other confident smiles. They were ready to win, and Jeno was going to do everything in his power to confirm that

He wanted nothing more than to go on a date with an angel, and he won’t let any game get in the way of that.


End file.
